'On this iPhone or iPad' No Longer Available

Starting today, the ‘On this iPhone or iPad’ feature will no longer be available in the Sonos app. There are still many ways to play your locally saved music library to Sonos and control it from your iOS device, including some good free options.

We first launched ‘On this iPhone or iPad’ in 2012 as an option to play locally saved content from your iOS device before Apple AirPlay was available on Sonos. The way this feature was originally designed has become unreliable with newer versions of iOS and Sonos.

The best way to play the music stored on your phone to Sonos is now by using Apple AirPlay 2 on compatible Sonos speakers (Sonos One, Amp, Beam, Play:5 (Gen 2), Playbase, and SYMFONISK WiFi Speakers). Using AirPlay 2, you can send the audio to one of these products and use the Sonos app to group it with any other Sonos rooms to have them all playing in sync. You can find more information about using AirPlay 2 with Sonos here.

For people who don’t have AirPlay 2 capable Sonos products, additional options to play tracks that are stored on your phone to Sonos include:

Uploading your tracks to a music service with a storage feature, such as Apple Music or Google Play Music. These services will store your library and allow you to stream it anywhere. This is a great option if you have songs that aren’t available on a subscription based streaming service. Also, Google Play Music has a free account option that allows you to upload 50,000 tracks and play them which works with Sonos.

If you have a Sonos Play:5, Connect, Connect:Amp, or Amp, you'll have a Sonos player with a Line-In connection. Using that Line-In, you can play music directly from any device connected to it, to any player around the house. You could even look into connecting a Bluetooth or AirPlay receiving device to that line in to use your mobile device without needing to wire it in to the line-in. See more about 'Using the Line-In on Sonos' here.

With the first three options, your phone doesn’t need to be turned on to listen to your music, and the music will keep on playing even if your phone is off or leaves the house. There are also alarm and Sonos playlist features that are available for most music sources that aren't available from 'On this iPhone'.

291 replies

Here's what's true. I purchase a Play:1 with the sole/only intention of use to stream music through my phone. Sonos advertised that I could do so without any notice that they may remove this essential functionality from their Play:1 product. If all went well, I would probably add Sonos products to my whole house. Things have not gone well. As of today, I can no longer use my Play:1 for the sole purchase for which I purchased it. Sonos no longer allows you to stream your own music. Airplay 2 won't work with Play:1. All of the streaming options would require that I pay money for a service I don't want just to stream my own music - I own a significant amount of music. Lastly, I only have a laptop which I don't won't to keep open and active 24/7 just so I can stream music through my Play:1 through my computer. Either Sonos is going to refund my $150 or I'm going to sue them. You don't just remove essential functionality from a product and replace it with only options that cost more money or are inconvenient. That's how you get a class action filed against you. I can't think of a dumber consumer product decision in recent years than what Sonos has done today. I may just sue Sonos myself but I'm talking to a couple friends who are class action lawyers. This is a pretty straightforward consumer fraud action by Sonos. If Sonos was smart, they would start offering full refunds now to get ahead of potential litigation which is time consuming, costly and will negatively impact their stock price. Or...!!! Sonos could just come up with a workaround to allow their customers the common sense ability to stream their own music in a manner that does not cost additional money and is not inconvenient.

Amazing how many people bought such a versatile piece of kit with the ‘sole / only’ purpose of doing just one and only one thing it. No other things, like ever. No, just that one thing.

Glad when this is all over.

Andrew

There actually doesn't appear to be that many. The ball dropped yesterday and the response here has been barely a blip. Honestly, I expected more - not CR100 more, but certainly more than a couple posts.

What a disappointment, Sonos - we purchased expecting better at this premium price point and your company has failed us as consumers of your products/services. I have been discussing this issue with a friend looking at my system, who was interested in purchasing. We spoke about this issue and the workarounds you suggested. He will not be purchasing Sonos going forward. Not just because of the actual loss of functionality, but he has lost confidence in your company and it’s ability to deliver continuation of service in the long term. Sad.

When purchasing new Sonos devices you do not have to be bothered by the removal of this feature: just buy Airplay 2 capable Sonos devices. And if your friend is an Android user he would have no problem at all.

When purchasing new Sonos devices you do not have to be bothered by the removal of this feature: just buy Airplay 2 capable Sonos devices. And if your friend is an Android user he would have no problem at all.

Thanks and ‘yes’ newer devices may provide a better system, however, like me, he did not want the voice-activated features, not the additional cost they bring. More crucially, he was put off by Sonos’ approach of ‘dropping’ supported services (as in, he could buy, then find other features are dropped in the future, which would’ve been key to him).

I will, undoubtedly end up with an Apple Music Sub - something I wanted to avoid - and the whole thing leaves a bitter taste and taints enjoyment of the system.

So the “play from phone” functionality will still work on Android devices, just not Apple devices. If this makes people upset they might want to think about who to be upset with. Why would Sonos remove the functionality from one type of device and not the other might be the question to ask to yourself to decide who to direct anger towards.

So the “play from phone” functionality will still work on Android devices, just not Apple devices. If this makes people upset they might want to think about who to be upset with. Why would Sonos remove the functionality from one type of device and not the other might be the question to ask to yourself to decide who to direct anger towards.

Hugely disappointing as others have said as it forces either a streaming service, buying an airplay2 enabled Sonos device or having some sort of nas. Most people just want to stream their library from their own devices. I would like to understand the reliability issues with this feature as I have had little trouble with it. Big sonos fan but a sad day indeed

This has a major impact on usability. None of the suggested options are usable for my use case. When I travel with work or on holiday, I take my Play:1 with me and a small wifi nano router, providing local wifi access . Uploading to a cloud share service is an added expense and wouldn't work without internet access (e.g. on holiday in remote locations with no wifi or phone services - yes they are widespread in parts of the UK). Using a PC isn't an option; the world has gone mobile - I don't carry a pc / laptop around with me.

You say access will still be permitted from Android devices. This increases the problem that Sonos are focusing on airplay2 at the expense of tried and tested features. AP2 is preventing the use of valuable services, and no one actually wants it - I'm a big Apple fan, but AP2 strikes me as a totally pointless and worthless service. I would rather see the use of AP2 abandoned; it adds no useful feature imo.

If this is your way forward, Sonos MUST add bluetooth streaming. While I would far rather use WiFi, I want to take Sonos out of the brick walls of my house - it's a great environment, but your feature changes are massively restricting the potential and usability outside of the home.

This has a major impact on usability. None of the suggested options are usable for my use case. When I travel with work or on holiday, I take my Play:1 with me and a small wifi nano router, providing local wifi access . Uploading to a cloud share service is an added expense and wouldn't work without internet access (e.g. on holiday in remote locations with no wifi or phone services - yes they are widespread in parts of the UK). Using a PC isn't an option; the world has gone mobile - I don't carry a pc / laptop around with me.

You say access will still be permitted from Android devices. This increases the problem that Sonos are focusing on airplay2 at the expense of tried and tested features. AP2 is preventing the use of valuable services, and no one actually wants it - I'm a big Apple fan, but AP2 strikes me as a totally pointless and worthless service. I would rather see the use of AP2 abandoned; it adds no useful feature imo.

If this is your way forward, Sonos MUST add bluetooth streaming. While I would far rather use WiFi, I want to take Sonos out of the brick walls of my house - it's a great environment, but your feature changes are massively restricting the potential and usability outside of the home.

Then you will love the new Sonos Move speaker being announced this week. A switch on the back puts it into Bluetooth mode, and there’s a carrying handle.

The issue is not 100% sonos. Apple have stopped this by restricting the use of downloaded music. Music we have all purchased!
This Is all about technology moving on. If you don’t move with it then you’re stuck.
i have a iPad 1. I have a sonos play:1. Last week I had the perfect setup. Today I have nothing but an expensive dab radio.
Do I invest in a new iPad (with air play 2) ? Would my sonos then work?? Do I need a new sonos??? Do I subscribe to Apple Music - would my current setup work??
i’m really confused..... I would have liked sonos be super clear what the next steps are for their loyal customers?? Should Apple help??
.
I love technology... but sometime I think that CD’s wasn’t such a bad invention. The Apple fat cats are getting bigger.

The issue is not 100% sonos. Apple have stopped this by restricting the use of downloaded music. Music we have all purchased!
This Is all about technology moving on. If you don’t move with it then you’re stuck.
i have a iPad 1. I have a sonos play:1. Last week I had the perfect setup. Today I have nothing but an expensive dab radio.
Do I invest in a new iPad (with air play 2) ? Would my sonos then work?? Do I need a new sonos??? Do I subscribe to Apple Music - would my current setup work??
i’m really confused..... I would have liked sonos be super clear what the next steps are for their loyal customers?? Should Apple help??
.
I love technology... but sometime I think that CD’s wasn’t such a bad invention. The Apple fat cats are getting bigger.

Play:1 doesn't support AP2, so whatever you do, your / my Play:1 is legacy kit. I must admit, I like the idea of the new portables unit, but the Play:1 was small enough to take with me and didn't involve buying new hardware. Although the Move will be a solution to the problem, from a user perspective it's a solution to a problem that didn't exist

The issue is not 100% sonos. Apple have stopped this by restricting the use of downloaded music. Music we have all purchased!
This Is all about technology moving on. If you don’t move with it then you’re stuck.
i have a iPad 1. I have a sonos play:1. Last week I had the perfect setup. Today I have nothing but an expensive dab radio.
Do I invest in a new iPad (with air play 2) ? Would my sonos then work?? Do I need a new sonos??? Do I subscribe to Apple Music - would my current setup work??
i’m really confused..... I would have liked sonos be super clear what the next steps are for their loyal customers?? Should Apple help??
.
I love technology... but sometime I think that CD’s wasn’t such a bad invention. The Apple fat cats are getting bigger.

Apple has stopped Sonos and Bluesound both from using this, for security reasons. It’s clearly stated by the Bluesound admins over on their forum. Apple is 100% the reason for the removal of this feature.

I'm not sure I totally agree with that. As far as I understand - and I may be wrong - Apple has introduced AirPlay 2 and previous features are no longer compatible. Sonos have chosen to implement AP2 and because of that choice have had to ditch the legacy features; without AP2, those features could be retained. I haven't seen anything about AP2 that makes me want to upgrade to kit that supports it.

I get that vendors like Sonos have to be seen to support new features, but then again they have chosen not to support 96K audio, which I also get...

There's no connection between the addition of AirPlay 2 and the removal of the ability to stream from an iOS device "in the background" from Apple's or Sonos' viewpoint. They're two different issues/concerns. Other than being introduced by Apple at roughly the same time. But I don't believe one has much / anything to do with the other.

There's no connection between the addition of AirPlay 2 and the removal of the ability to stream from an iOS device "in the background" from Apple's or Sonos' viewpoint. They're two different issues/concerns. Other than being introduced by Apple at roughly the same time. But I don't believe one has much / anything to do with the other.

Would you also say there is no relation between the iOS dock brickening, the removal of the play from iOS, airplay2 and the release of the one, Ikea speakers and the forthcoming "move"? They aren't motivated to move people to new hardware by taking away features and hardware we payed for? Cause it sure as hell seems like it.

I bought Sonos a long time ago as a home entertainment alternative. Instead of playing LP's/CD's through a receiver, now I could play my iTunes (where all my CD's wound up BTW) on Sonos speakers instead. Taking a feature away that has been original/standard for years, not to mention one that was advertised to us all as a means of selling the product, is absolutely unacceptable. I'd be interested in what Consumer Reports would have to say about this. Now I have several lead weights that cost $200 each.
If Apple made the move that disabled "on this phone" access, then Sonos should let their consumers know that it was not their fault. And tell us about such a dramatic change in the App itself, not on a message board! How Lame - So many customers are wasting their time trying to figure out WTH happened. Shame on Sonos for not being forthright and transparent.

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